Technology Home Page

There are four major and two minor strands of technology
skills you will need during this course. They are listed below
for easy reference. They are not in any order. Please
feel free to jump to whatever topic you need whenever you need
it for your project and staff development plan. It is in your
best interest to become familiar with the resources we've
provided here. Take the time to explore and try a few
tasks--whether they're assigned or not!

Internet Concepts

Basic Internet
Concepts: This is a one-page explanation of some basic
concepts about how the Internet works. Some basic terms are
defined such as Internet service provider, client/server,
hypertext, etc.

Electronic Communication

Electronic communication enables the participant to
conference with others using different formats. There are many
kinds of electronic communication used in this course.

Listserv: This
"electronic mailing list" software will be used for general
class announcements or collaboration through e-mail with
other participant teams.

Yahoo Groups is a
free email group service that allows you to create and/or
join email groups. This is a convenient way to connect with
the participants in your LInC course for announcements and
collaboration.

Electronic Bulletin
Board - This is a communication tool that is designed
for participants to post messages for others to read at a
time that is convenient to them. The messages are arranged by
topic and subtopic so that you can follow the flow of
conversations and find things when you need them later. In
many cases this tool will also have a search feature. Sharing
ideas, URLs, and questions is the perfect type of material to
place in the electronic discussion board.

IRC Chat Tool: This will be used for "class meetings."
The chat tool allows us to talk "real-time" with each other.
You could also use the chat tool to collaborate with team
members (but you would need to schedule that activity
outside of the "class meetings"). Consult your
lead facilitator, course home page, etc. for the tools used
for your course.

Tappedin, a
"shared teacher professional development workplace", offers a
free membership to teachers, educators, and researchers. You
can chat with the entire group, team, or another individual.
You can also see if other teachers using tappedin are working
on a similar project.

We advise that you familiarize yourself with
Tappedin before you have your participants join. Have
them prejoin before you have their first session. There are
educators that will offer online sessions and a Help
Desk to help first time users. Also, we suggest having
the participants become a
member and browse the
help guides first. See "How to
Join" for more information.

To directly ask questions of your facilitators, you may
use the staff listserv for your course (if there is one) or
your main facilitator's e-mail address.

Finding Resources on the Web

Finding
Information: This page provides general information about
search engines and search strategies. It will help you find
relevant links for your project.

Finding Software:
Are you looking for software to meet a specific need or are
you looking for an updated version? This is the place.

General Information
about URLs and Links: Information is given on the parts of
a URL, how URLs are created, and the difference between
absolute and relative links. Understanding this information
will help you create a directory/folder of Web pages that can
be moved to a different Web server without having to fix any
broken links.

Graphics, Graphics,
Graphics: This is it - everything you wanted to know about
using, converting, making, finding, and saving graphics. It's a
long page, but it's thorough! It also tells you about ways to
make your graphics load more rapidly by creating an
"interlaced" graphic and how to make the background of a
graphic transparent. In addition, links to several good places
to get free graphics on the Web are provided.

Using Raw HTML: This
page is designed as a supplement for those who wish to write
source code directly or to solve problems by changing the
source code without using the editor. It is not meant to be a
complete guide. It will not be used by everyone.

Fermilab LInC is sponsored by the Fermilab Education Office and the Fermilab Friends for Science Education and supported in part by the Office of High Energy Physics, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, the Illinois State Board of Education and the National Science Foundation. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department, State or Foundation.